On 16th of January, 2004, took place in Bucharest meeting with the representatives of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) and Foreign Investors Council (FIC).
The Romanian Government was represented by the Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, Mircea Geoana, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mihail Tanasescu, Minister of Finance, Eugen Dijmarescu, Minister Delegate for Trade, Vasile Puscas, Minister Delegate, Chief negotiator with the EU, Andrei Grigorescu, State Secretary, Iulia Cristina Tarcea, State Secretary and Marian Saniuta, President of ARIS.
The ERT was represented by Antony Burgmans, President of UNILEVER - Holland, Luc-Alekandre Menard, Director, RENAULT - France, Knud Hedeager Nielen, General Director, CARLSBERG - Danemark, Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer, President of OMV-Austria, Nicolaos Zagopoulos, DELTA - Grecia, Jean Martin, ERT - Enlargement Group.
Among the participants from FIC should be mentioned Jean-Pierre Vigroux, President, John Saunders and Gilbert Wood, Vice president, Pericles Venieris, Director, COCA COLA, Gianfranco Zoppas, President, ZOPPAS INDUSTRY -Italy, Ruxandra Stan, Executive director.
The Prime Minister of Romania presented the main priorities of the Romanian Government for the next period which meet to the European Commission’s recommendations and create the necessary conditions for the completion of the acceding negotiations. Among these priorities the most important are: accelerating the privatization process in the energy sector, tackling the problem of arrears, improving the financial discipline, further working towards a more friendly business environment, implementing and enforcing the competition rules.
There were also presented recent accomplishments in the economic fields: the adoption of the new Fiscal Code and of its procedures, the simplification of the procedures regarding the new investments through creation of the “one stop-shops” which ease the business registration process; the adoption of “Sunshine law”, reduction of the number of controls and inspections, elimination of the overlapped controls, etc.
The meeting was organized in four sectoral sessions: flexibility of labor, enforcement of rules/laws, a equilibrate business climate and tax regime.
The representatives of the business community expressed their appreciations for the openness and the substantial dialogue with the authorities.